In The Cover of Night
by Rebecca Cage
Summary: When Sam is plagued by nightmares of pain from her past, she needs a friend more than ever. Can Daniel give her the help she needs. Please R&R!
1. Downtime

In The Cover of Night  
  
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did because it would be a blast, I don't nor have I ever in my existence owned Stargate SG-1 and related characters. They are owned by the creative geniuses at MGM. Sigh. So please vacate any  
thoughts of trying to sue me. I am receiving no compensation.  
  
Chapter 1: Downtime  
  
Night had fallen over P3X-638 and the four weary members of SG-1 were sitting around their campfire, relaxing after completing their most recent mission. The planet was deserted aside from the crypt that the team had been sent to retrieve an artifact from and all involved had agreed that it was quiet here compared to the hectic craziness that normally occurred around the SGC, so they had received permission to take a few days of their downtime on the planet.  
  
Colonel Jack O'Neill sat on a fold chair surrounded by his team. He chewed on his ration bar as he took in a good look at the people around him, his family of sorts. Major Samantha Carter was sitting off to one side giving the artifact a once over with Dr. Daniel Jackson to translate the markings on the smooth surface. Carter and Daniel. Now there were two workaholics if he ever saw them. This was the first occasion in over a year that Sam had spent some downtime out of her lab without her scientific doohickeys that she was so often engrossed in. He had known that this would be good for her to get off the base for a while and relax. Then there was Daniel. His best friend and someone he viewed as a brother. Jack had lost count of the number of times that he had found Daniel sleeping in his office after returning from a long mission, having nodded off at his computer trying to keep working when he was well past the point of exhaustion. Then he stole a glance at Teal'c, the Jaffa member of their team who had pledged his life to their fight against the Goa'uld after being rescued from Apophis. Teal'c sat quietly across from Jack, cleaning his Staff weapon. When he sensed his friend's gaze, the Jaffa looked up from what he was doing and smiled.  
"Am I that interesting, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, amused.  
"Huh?"  
"You were watching me as I engaged in cleaning my weapon. I was not aware I was so fascinating.  
"Oh. Sorry, Teal'c. I was just thinking about how good this will be for the four of us." Jack mused.  
"I agree, Jack. We haven't had much of a chance for relaxing lately. Besides, I can't remember the last time we got to kick up our heels and just spend some leisure time together, you know, as a team." Daniel agreed, setting up his own fold chair and coming to sit next to his friend.  
"Honestly, I'm a little surprised that General Hammond let us take this little break. I thought for sure we were going to be ordered back to base." Sam pointed out.  
"What can I say, I know how to pull some strings. Besides, Hammond owed me a favor and I picked now to call it in."  
"Shall we set up the tents, O'Neill?"  
"Why? It's a nice, warm night and there isn't a cloud in the sky so why don't we sleep outside under the stars tonight. It's really peaceful here and after the missions we've been on lately, some peace and quiet is a luxury we can use right about now." Daniel said.  
"Daniel does make a good point there, Teal'c. It is really peaceful here and why not take advantage of being on a planet where we aren't assaulted by the elements."  
"Well, why don't we try to get some sleep now. It's getting late, in fact it's almost 2200 hours. I think we could all use with a good night's sleep."  
After finding good places to set up their bedrolls for the night, the team spent a few minutes talking before they went to bed. That is, except for Teal'c who had made himself comfortable and began his Kelnoreem.  
"Hey, Jack. What exactly was this favor that the General owed you? I'm a little bit curious." Daniel whispered over the fire.  
"Well, Daniel, it's as simple as this. The General had an emergency one day a couple of months ago and I took care of some things for him and as thanks he told me that whenever I needed a favor to just ask and I called in that favor today for the benefit of my team."  
"That was really good of you, Jack. You could have just used that for your own benefit, but instead you decided to include the rest of us so we could all have a break." Daniel yawned as he stretched out on his bedroll, eyes drooping with fatigue.  
"I agree. That was very thoughtful of you, sir." Sam agreed. She looked in Daniel's direction and chuckled lightly. "In fact, I'd say it's so restful here that Daniel's already trying to leave. Leave for dreamland, that is."  
"Well, I am beat. I think I'm going to turn in. As Sam just pointed out, I'm practically there already. Night, guys. See you in the morning." After a few minutes, Jack and Sam heard Daniel's breathing slow and deepen as he started his downtime by drifting off to sleep.  
"Thank you, sir." Sam whispered.  
"For what?"  
"This. I have to agree with what Daniel said earlier. It's really nice here. We haven't had a chance to relax like this in a while and I for one think we should reap the benefits."  
"Yeah, I agree. Let's get some sleep. Goodnight, Carter." Jack said, settling into his bedroll and watched Sam rest on her own and fall into a comfortable sleep. Then, taking a final glance at his team, all three sleeping peacefully, Jack closed his eyes and dropped off into a fitful slumber of his own. 


	2. Wounds of the Past

Chapter 2: Wounds of the Past  
  
Not long after she had fallen asleep, Sam became trapped in a dream that was based on feelings and raw emotions that she kept buried deep inside and never told anyone. The dream that she found herself in was based on an origin deep in her past, before she had become a member of SG-1, long before Daniel had even opened up the Stargate. The emotions stemmed from this, the dream however was much more painful. She was dreaming of the day Daniel had died.  
She was standing in the infirmary with Jack, Teal'c, Janet, General Hammond, and her father, Jacob, watching as her father's symbiote used a Goa'uld hand device to try and restore Daniel's health as he lay in a coma, on his deathbed. Sam's heart was racing with fear and emotion when she heard Jack move to speak to Jacob.  
"Jacob. Stop." Jack said solemnly. Everyone looked on him in alarm.  
"Someone else want to tell me what I should do?" Jacob asked.  
"This is what Daniel wants. We need to let him go."  
Just then, the event happened that they had hoped to stop. The heart monitors flatlined as Daniel's heart stopped beating. He was gone and there was nothing more that Janet could do to save him. Suddenly, Daniel's body became a blinding light above the bed and then disappeared.  
Sam stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty bed where her friend's body had occupied moments before. Then it hit her what the truth was, the cold, hard truth. Daniel Jackson was dead. Sam ran from the infirmary and into her lab, locking the door. As she sat alone in the empty room, she allowed her tears to fall as one thought went through her head. "This is all my fault. One of my best friends is dead and it's all because of me. This is my punishment."  
  
Sam awoke abruptly from her nightmare and sat straight up on her bedroll, drenched with sweat. She looked around her and realized where she was when she noticed her three friends sleeping around her. When she heard Daniel's soft snoring coming from a few feet to her right, she turned her head in that direction. It warmed her heart to think that they had all gotten a second chance to have Daniel back in their lives and now he was here with them, stretched out on his bedroll near the dying remnants of the fire, sleeping peacefully without a care in the universe.  
After lying there for a few minutes, Sam decided to go for a walk and clear her head. She got up carefully and crept silently out of the campsite, being extremely careful not to wake anyone and walked over to the lake nearby. As she looked out at the dawn light twinkling gently on the clear water, Sam became overwhelmed by her memories and began to cry softly as the breeze whipped gently around her.  
  
Daniel was awakened from his sleep by a feeling that something wasn't quite right. He opened his eyes and sat up, taking a look around the campsite as he put on his glasses. It didn't take him long to determine what was wrong. He glanced around and noticed Jack and Teal'c were still sleeping but Sam was nowhere to be found.  
"Huh, that's strange. I wonder where Sam went. I hope nothing's wrong. Maybe I'd better go and look for her." Daniel thought as he stood up and went to look for Sam.  
A few minutes later, Sam was still sitting by the lake listening to the sounds around her when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up startled but relaxed when she saw Daniel emerge from the trees and come toward her.  
"Sam, are you okay? I've been looking everywhere for you. I was worried when you were missing when I woke up."  
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just needed to be alone for a little while. I didn't mean to worry anyone." Sam whispered, her voice breaking slightly.  
"No, Sam, you aren't okay. You're obviously upset about something, I can hear it in your voice. Why don't you tell me what's going on."  
"I don't know if I can talk about it, Daniel. It took me so long to bury the past and if I dredge it up again it's going to come flooding back worse than it has already."  
"You need to get whatever is upsetting you out in the open. One thing that Jack taught me some time ago is that if you simply bury something without dealing with it first, you never truly bury it. It keeps coming back to haunt you and you can't get free from it no matter how hard you try. I did that for years and I don't want to see you go through the hell that I went through. Please, Sam, just talk to me." Daniel said quietly, moving over and sitting next to Sam by the lake.  
"I had a dream tonight about the results of a terrible mistake I made and relived my punishment for it. It really shook me up pretty bad. That's why I left camp."  
"What was this dream about?"  
"I guess I should start with the basis of it." Sam began nervously as Daniel placed a hand on her arm and nodded for her to continue. "Well, when I was a teenager, there was a mission of sorts that I was meant to be involved with. But, my parents stood in my way. I know you wouldn't believe it today but growing up I didn't have the best relationship with my parents. Actually, I only repaired my relationship with Dad after my mother died. Anyway, I knew that they were wrong and I fought them to the death but in the end, I wasn't strong enough. As a result, the mission I was supposed to assist failed and several people died. I let someone keep me from doing the right thing and it cost several people their lives. I could have saved those people, Daniel. I knew I deserved to suffer for that but I never did. Until a year and a half ago. The day I stood in the infirmary and watched you fade before my eyes after what happened on Kelowna, watched you die such a painful death, I knew you were suffering because of my error and I have had to live with that. Even though you're back now and everything is okay, I'm still haunted by that." Sam finished as her tears began to fall again and Daniel wrapped her in his arms.  
"Sam, I can't begin to understand what you've been through but there is one thing that I can assure you. What happened on Kelowna that lead to my death and my decision to ascend had absolutely nothing to do with something that happened years before you and I even met. Things just don't happen that way, Sam. You have to let this go. There's no way of knowing whether you could have prevented what happened back then. If you harbor these raw feelings, they will eventually destroy you. You have to release this burden."  
"It seemed so real, Daniel. Oh, God, it seemed so very real."  
"Shh. It's okay. It was a dream, Sam. That's all it was, it was just a dream. Everything's okay now." Daniel whispered as he rocked Sam back and forth, trying to soothe her.  
"I can still remember the hurt that I felt the day that mission failed and that I've carried around for years. I'm afraid of going through the same thing again. That's why I've always been a little reserved."  
"Look at me, Sam." Daniel said firmly as Sam lifted her eyes to meet his. "You don't have to be reserved around me or around Jack or Teal'c for that matter. No one is ever going to hurt you like that again. You don't need to be afraid. That's a promise."  
"I just don't want to be afraid anymore, Daniel. I don't know how to stop being afraid." Sam whispered.  
"I know. Come here." Daniel said reassuringly as he took Sam into his arms again and she rested her head on his shoulder. Drawing the comfort from her friend's warm embrace, Sam closed her eyes and fell asleep in Daniel's arms.  
A few minutes later, Daniel noticed that Sam's breathing had slowed and evened out and that she was no longer trembling. He carefully moved his head and looked at her. Daniel smiled when he noticed that Sam had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He then gently lay back on the grass, being careful not to wake Sam.  
"Don't worry, Sam. Jack, Teal'c and I will always be here for you whenever you need us. Your friends will always look out for you and protect you. You'll never have to worry about being alone, Sam. We'll never leave you. I promise." Daniel whispered, feeling Sam's soft breath on his neck and she nestled her head deeper into his shoulder. Reaching up to gently stroke her blonde hair, Daniel tightened his arm protectively around Sam and then closed his eyes and he, too, drifted back to sleep. 


	3. Appreciation

Chapter 3: Appreciation  
  
Three hours later, Jack O'Neill awoke with the sunrise and yawned quietly. He looked at the now dead fire and around their campsite, all of his senses suddenly on alert. He noticed that Teal'c was still asleep but what alarmed Jack was that he and Teal'c were the only ones there. Both Sam and Daniel were nowhere to be found.  
"I wonder where the hell Carter and Daniel are. It's not like either of them to be awake so early. After I go and clean up a little I'll go and look for them. This is a peaceful, deserted planet, after all, so it's not like they can get into any real trouble." Jack thought to himself as he stood up and stretched, heading to the lake to clean himself up.  
  
As Jack approached the clearing, he realized that he had inadvertently killed two birds with one stone. Upon entering the clearing, he saw Daniel sound asleep on the grass and his arm was around Sam who was sleeping on her friend's shoulder. He shook his head and smiled as he quietly approached.  
"Well, what do you know? I wonder how they ended up all the way out here though. Ah well, I guess it doesn't really matter too much. Since we are on downtime and don't have any pressing issues to deal with and there are no Goa'uld around to pose a threat, I might as well let those two sleep for a while longer. No need to wake them when they seem so comfortable." Jack thought as he momentarily knelt down beside Daniel, gently removing the younger man's glasses while taking extreme care not to awaken him or their friend who rested in his arms. For all the activity, Sam made no movement or indication that she was even aware of Jack's presence and Daniel's only response was a quiet sigh as he stirred slightly. Then he placed Daniel's glasses on the grass near where he slept, washed his hands in the lake, and silently headed back to camp to start breakfast.  
  
Back at their campsite, Jack had just got another fire going to make the breakfast when he heard Teal'c begin to awaken. The Jaffa sat up and looked at his friend.  
"Good morning, O'Neill." Teal'c said cheerfully.  
"Morning, Teal'c. I just started making breakfast." Jack smiled, looking up momentarily from what he was doing to glance at his companion. "Something wrong?"  
"I have only just noticed that you and I are the only ones around, O'Neill. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson appear to have gone missing. I believe we should go and search for them."  
"That won't be necessary, Teal'c, because I already found them. When I woke up this morning I noticed that they were gone and I went to clean up at that lake over there before I went to look for them and I found them both there. They were both sound asleep on the grass so I didn't wake them. I figure they'll come meandering back here before two long."  
"As long as everyone is all right, that is the only importance." Teal'c retorted in the Jaffa manner of speaking that never failed to both interest and amuse Jack.  
  
At the same time, at the edge of the lake, Daniel stirred and opened his eyes as he slowly came awake. At first, he took a look around and was confused because he wasn't sure how he had come to be where he was.  
"Hmm. I wonder how I got here. Maybe I was sleepwalking. No, wait, I came out here looking for something. I guess I must have sat dozed off." Daniel said quietly to no one in particular.  
When he felt the warm sensation of breath on his neck and noticed that he had his arm around Sam, Daniel thought back through the sleep induced haze in his mind and remembered what had happened earlier. He had awakened back at camp hours before to find Sam gone. When he had left to search for her, he found her here sitting by the lake. He also remembered that after a little urging, she had told him about her nightmare and what she believed to be true about what had happened to him over a year before. After locating his glasses where he didn't remember laying them and putting them on, Daniel released his grip on Sam and sat up slowly, silently cursing himself when she stirred and opened her eyes.  
"Hmm?" Sam said sleepily as she looked around. "Daniel?"  
"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."  
"It's okay. Thanks for being here for me when I needed a friend earlier. I appreciate it. I don't understand how we got like this though."  
"You're welcome. After you told me about everything I was holding you trying to calm you down and you fell asleep on my shoulder. Then I leaned back on the grass so you could be more comfortable and I guess I must have nodded off as well. I think either Jack or Teal'c were here at some point while we were sleeping, though."  
"How do you know?" Sam asked.  
"Well, I didn't take my glasses off before I fell asleep but when I woke up a few minutes ago they were laying beside me. Since I didn't do that, it has to mean that one of them had to have come across us and taken off my glasses while I slept. It was probably Jack. So do you feel any better?"  
"Yeah. I really do. Actually, earlier when I told you about all of that, it was the first time I had been able to talk about it to anyone since it happened. It was about time I let that beast out of its cage. I appreciate you letting me burden you with my excess baggage."  
"I'm just glad I was able to help you get that off your chest. I could see how badly it upset you and I can't imagine how it must have felt carrying that around inside your heart all this time. For the record though, you weren't a burden to me and you never will be. You're my friend and friends help each other through hard times. So I don't even want you to worry about burdening me if you need to talk about something, okay." Daniel said softly.  
"Okay. Can I ask you a favor, Daniel?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, could you keep what we talked about between us? I'm just not sure the Colonel and Teal'c would fully understand and I don't think I could explain it again."  
"I won't tell another soul what you and I discussed. It says strictly between us. If anyone else find out, they won't hear it from me, I promise."  
"Thanks, Daniel." Sam whispered as she gave her friend a hug.  
"Sure. Anytime. Hey, why don't we head back to camp. I'm pretty hungry and I'm sure someone had started breakfast by now. Besides, Jack and Teal'c will probably get concerned if we don't get back soon."  
"Okay. Let's go."  
Sam took Daniel's hand and allowed him to help her off of the ground and they walked slowly away from the lake. As they headed back to camp together, Sam felt confident and safe in the knowledge that Daniel Jackson wouldn't tell anyone else what she had told him. That she could trust him fully with her secret. It was the first time in several years that she had allowed herself to fully and completely trust someone and, now that she had, she was glad it was Daniel.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this fic. I wrote it to get some raw emotions off of my chest because next Friday is the 3 year anniversary of a tough time I went through and a Stargate story seemed to be the perfect way to sort out the feelings. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought of it.


End file.
